I am dreaming of a colourful Christmas (in the desert...)

In case you've been living under a rock for the past few weeks, you'll have by now realised that tomorrow is officially December, which means one thing and one thing only: it's time to get into the festive spirit! (I know there are some seriously keen peeps out there who have been in full Christmas mode since November, which I can only applaud, obviously...). So get ready for the daily countdown to Christmas day, Facetime calls with Santa, advent calendars... It's time to unleash the festive beast! This year will be my first ever Christmas in the desert after 12 years in London, and I was keen to make things extra festive on Stella + the Stars.

And then, all my Christmas styling wishes came true, when I recently took part in a really fun collaborative photoshoot with some of my favourite brands in Dubai. It was my first styling gig since moving to the desert just a few months ago and to say I had a blast, would be an understatement. The brief was to come up with a colourful theme with budget-friendly ideas on how to decorate your house for Christmas, with some inspiration for gifts to the little people in your life.

The agenda for the day was not for the faint hearted: four energetic kids, a gigantic Christmas tree (artificial, we are in the desert after all!), glittery reindeers hanging decorations, a bit of pink (ok a lot!), some seriously over-the-top Christmas baubles, and a bunch of beautiful products any cool kid would be lucky to have on their Christmas list.

The lovely Emily, behind one of the best lifestyle blogs in town Dubai our Sandbox came up with the brilliant idea and rallied the troops (oh and helped with ALL the styling!), the wonderful ladies from the coolest kids interiors store Caramel and Sun, Olivia and Magali, supplied all the drool-worthy goodies, wonder-store Kidette Boutique kitted out the little people in the most fashionable outfits and photographer extraordinaire Racha Hallak captured the best moments of the day.

I'll let you see the result. If it doesn't make you feel festive, I don't know what will... Oh and by the way, it wasn't really cold outside...

All the present wrapping, and pompons are from IKEA, the glittery Christmas tree decorating items like baubles and hanging decorations are from Ace, and the kids models are... ours! Kidette Boutique kindly supplied all the fabulous kids outfits worn by Stella, Stella (number 2!), Matteo and Eva.